Lee Dugatkin, University of Louisville

*********************************
There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
*********************************

Event Details
  • Date/Time:
    • Thursday January 29, 2015 - Friday January 30, 2015
      10:00 am - 9:59 am
  • Location: ES&T Building, Room L1205
  • Phone: (404) 894-3700
  • URL:
  • Email:
  • Fee(s):
    N/A
  • Extras:
Contact

If you have questions about logistics or would like to set up an appointment with the speaker, please contact the School of Biology's administrative office at bio-admin@biology.gatech.edu.

Summaries

Summary Sentence: Lee Dugatkin, University of Louisville

Full Summary: Altruism Writ Small: Why microbes protect one another from antibioticsThe evolution of altruism is often referred to as the central paradox of evolutionary biology. My colleagues and I have been studying microbial altruism in E. coli. Altruism in this system involves a cell secreting a substance called beta-lactamase, which breaks down antibiotics, and protects not just the cell secreting this substance, but all cells in the general vicinity. We've done experiments that show that producing beta-lactamase is expensive and cells that don't pay these costs-- cheaters cells --grow more quickly than cells that do (when no antibiotics are around). And yet, these secreting altruists coexist side by side with their cheating fellow cells. I'll talk about experiments that help us understand why, briefly touch on some computer simulations that model microbial altruism, and then discuss work we have done that extends microbial altruism and cheating to interspecific interactions between E. coli and Salmonella cells. 

Altruism Writ Small: Why microbes protect one another from antibiotics

Additional Information

In Campus Calendar
No
Groups

School of Biological Sciences

Invited Audience
Undergraduate students, Faculty/Staff, Public, Graduate students
Categories
Seminar/Lecture/Colloquium
Keywords
Lee Dugatkin, School of Biology Seminar
Status
  • Created By: Jasmine Martin
  • Workflow Status: Published
  • Created On: Dec 12, 2014 - 5:46am
  • Last Updated: Apr 13, 2017 - 5:20pm